Improvement in flour-packers



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEo SAMUEL TAGGART, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN FLouR-PAckERs.

Specification forming part ofLetters Patent No. 146,107., dated December30, 1873; applica-tion filed December 4, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL TAGGART, of Indianapolis, in the county ofMarion and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Flour-Packers, of which the following is aspecification:

Several objects are designed to be accomplished by my invention, amongWhich are, iirst, to cause the material to be packed with the samedegree of coinpactness at the bilge and sides as well as at the centerof the barrel 5 second, to adapt the auger more especially for packingfibrous material; third, to effect the sealing of the mouth of the iiouror sugar chest when the packer is not in operation; and, fourth, toconstruct the auger in a manner whereby its overlapping surfaces will bemore `cheaply finished and polished.

The first of these objects is effected by the combination, with a spiralpacking-blade, of an upwardly-turned periphery or rim thereof, theoperation of which, as the auger revolves, is to press upon the materialby an inclined action and force it outward against the sides of thebarrel, thus insuring a proper degree of pressure upon the material atthe bilge by wedging the material away beneath the revolving inclinedrim, effecting, in connection with the underdished surface Aof thespiral blade, a uniform solidity of the material at all points of thebarrel.

The second object is effected by the ogee form of the issues of thespiral packing-blade, the outer portions of which are not radial, but inadvance, as the auger revolves, of the portions of the issues nearestthe hub, in order thereby to ride over and hold the iibrous materialdown while the central receding curved portions of the upper sides ofthe issues more readily pass over the substance, and thus avoid carryingit round with the advancing upper edges of the issues, effect thepacking more easily and uniformly, and prevent choking of the issues.

The third object is accomplished by the combination of atruncatedcone-shaped mouth, with the feeding-chest and the packing-auger, which,when retracted within the conical mouth, seals and closes it at the endof the operation, and thereby prevents the substance from falling out inremoving the barrel.

And, fourth, my invention consists of `a spiral packing-blade and hubmade in sections, Y

interlocked and secured upon the shaft, whereby the overlapping portionscan be more easily and properly ground with perfectly smooth andpolished surfaces, aything which eXperience has shown to be verydifficult to do when the spiral blade is cast in one piece.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l represents a vertical section ofso much of a packer as embraces my invention. Figs. 2 and 3 representdifferent elevations of the auger, and Fig. 4 a plan thereof.`

The trunk A collects the iiour or other material preparatory toitspassage to the barrel,

and its discharging end is contracted and made converging for a shortdistance toward the top, forming the frustum of a cone, as i shown at B,for a purpose to be stated. `The packing or auger shaft C is combinedwith the necessary mechanism for imparting to it a rotary movement whilepacking, vand a vertical m ovement for retractin g the auger whenthebarrel is filled, as in my packer patented August 2, 1859, andextended August 2, 1873. The auger is carried upon the lower end of theshaft C, and consists of two spirally-formed blades, D E, the endswhereof overlap'each other and form the issues a b through which thematerial is fed into the barrel from the trunk, and these issues, beingdiametrically opposite, balance the lat eralV pressure upon the shaft,and prevent all unequal wear and consequent wabblin g of both the augerand the shaft. The under surfaces of the spiral blades are concave froma circle, c, a short distance within the circumferenceto the hub, forcompressing the material toward the center as the blades revolve overit, tl`1e inclination of the blades being lessened to cause them to passover the material without tending to carry it round with the auger.

From the outward termination c of the concave surface the blades areturned upwardly to form an inclined rim or circumference, F,

the action of which is twofold-that is, while pressing the material downwith the same degree of pressure as the concave surface, v

also presses it outward against the sides of the barrel, and thusrenders the packing as even and solid all around the sides as at thecenter. The upward deflection of thc circumferential portion or rim Fneed only be such as to produce the desired effect, and, being employedas an encircling rim to the concave surface, acts from its junction-linec therewith to press the material regularly outward and more denselybeyond the reach of the blades against Athe sides of the barrel, whilefrom such joining-line c the concave surface presses the material towardand around the center. The centrifugal and cent-ripctalpressing-surfaces being separate and distinct from each other, thematerial is left intact and of uniform density in every portion of thebarrel, and hence less weight is required upon the friction-brake whichcontrols the packing pressure of theJ auger, and less power to propelthe packer. Another advantage of the inclined rim F is, that it actsupon and presses outward the material which passes between itscircumference and the sides of the barrel, as the diameter of thepacking-blades is al# ways less than the inner diameter of the barrel.In packing flour and sugar I have not found it necessary to use theblades with their ends lapped, as the cohesive nature of flour orsoftsugar will cause it to close the openings between the blades whennot in use. For packing granulated sugar, kiln-dried meal, calcinedplaster, and other like substances, however, the blades should be lappedto prevent the substance from running through the issues when the augeris not at work. When so constructed the blades are more difficult andexpensive to finish and polish between the overlappin g parts. To avoidthis, I make the spiral blade, with its hub, in two equal parts orsections of two quarters, (l` e, each, as shown in Fig. 5, and join themtogether by making the halfsection of the hub d c of each blade tointerlock vertically and horizontally with the hub-section of the otherblade, the hub being quartered for this purpose vertically andhorizontally, and the sections secured by wrought-iron bands f on eachend of the hub. By this means each section of the blade is cast, ground,and polished separately much quicker, smoother, better, and cheaper thanwhen cast whole. The quarters of the hub, when interlocked and banded,make the separate blades as if cast in one piece. The issues a b of theauger are of peculiar shape, the line of the two forming the figureresembling an ogce with a short curve, g, in each issue next to the hub,and therefrom terminating at the circumference in an oblique line, h, ordirection from the center; the object of which is to cause the outer oroblique portion h, which forms the upper edge of each issue, to be inadvance of the inner curved portion gV as the auger revolves, so th atthe advancing portion h of the blade will pass through the material witha kind of drawn-knife out, in which the outer oblique portion holds thematerial,while the central curved portion passes more easily over andwithout dragging or moving it forward with the issue edges. By thisadvan` tage the auger is better adapted for packing fibrous material.The packing-blade D E, when retracted, is drawn into the mouth B of theflour-receiver, which, by its truncated cone form, is closed by theblade forming a tight joint or seal within said mouth, and thus, inconjunction with the overlapping blades, arrest the flow of the materialwhen the packer is stopped, until the filled barrel is replaced by anempty one, or when stopping work.

I-Iaving described my invention, I claim- 1. In a packer for flour andother materials, the packing-blades D and E thereof, provided withupwardly-deflected circumferential packing-rims F, for the purposedescribed.

2. The auger-issues, having the inner oppositely-curved portions g, andthe outward oblique terminations h, as and for the purpose described.

3. The spiral blades D and E and hub d c, made in sections, joined,interlocked, and se cured, substantially as described, and to obtain theadvantages stated.

4. The packingauger, consisting of the sectional hub d c, overlappingand dished sectional blades D and E, and the upwardly-k dei'lectedcircumferential rim, F, as and vfor the purpose specified.

.5. The truncated-cone-shaped mouth B of the receiver A, in combinationwith a packingauger, as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribingwitnesses.

SAMUEL TAGGART.

Iitnesses z A. H. JOHNSON, JAV. HAMILTON J onNsoN.

